Vanishing twin syndrome

[AlitheAllosaurus]

I went for a scan today at 8 weeks due to some pink spotting and the sonographer found an 8 week fetus with a normal heartbeat and a second sac that was roughly 6 weeks in size but couldn’t find anything in the second sac. I have a retroverted uterus so the images weren’t the best but she said that it will probably reabsorb or they may still be able to see it at my 12 week scan, so to tell the sonographer so they can look out for it. I’m thrilled that there is one baby who is growing perfectly but I just don’t know how to feel about the other sac and what might have been. So was wondering if this has happened to anyone else and how you felt about it and processed it.

This happened to me but at 12 week scan. Like you I was happy about the healthy baby but it was strange, as I’d felt strongly at first that I was expecting twins, then talked myself out of it thinking I was being silly. I didn’t feel a huge sense of loss though in the way I would have if I’d seen two babies at 6wks for example. But I imagine everyone feels differently- whatever you feel is ok.

Yes it happened to me. I didn't really think about it much at the time because it was sort of abstract. I'd never been told I was having twins so suddenly not having twins wasn't the same iyswim? Plus I was busy being pg with dd. Years later I had a bit of a moment where I suddenly "felt" it and felt like I had lost a potential someone. Now I just have a bit of a pang when I think about it really.

It happened to me. It’s a strange thing to go to a scan to discover you’ve lost something you didn’t know you had and didn’t know you wanted. You are allowed to grieve if you wish and allowed to celebrate the surviving twin or feel what ever you do - it’s all ok.

Mine had reabsorbed at 12 weeks. Odd to know.

Yes .. I lost 1 twin that had previously been identified on a scan .
I was just so pleased that I carried my other baby to term that I didn’t dwell on it too much .
I do wish the other had made it too , my DD knows she was a twin as she has seen copies of the first 2 scans .
It is odd (to us ) that we don’t know which is DD .
I’m sorry for your loss .
Good luck with your pregnancy

Yes I did in my 4 pregnancy. I’m just putting the rest of that pregnancy to bed and then I will comment.

Yes, it happened to me too. Went for an early scan and they saw a second, empty, sac. By the 12 week scan it wasn't there anymore. I'd forgotten about it until now but for ages I found it really odd thinking about it. I just kept reminding myself that I was never told it was twins so I hadn't lost one as such but it did take me a while to stop thinking about it. I think it's a lot more common than people realise but the majority of people don't have early scans so they never know about it.

Thank you all so much for your replies, it’s not really something I’d heard about until today so it’s nice to hear others experiences, although obviously wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I went today thinking I could have lost one baby, so am mainly relieved and very excited but there’s just this weird feeling of what if!

I think it’s more common than we realise. When I was pregnant with my son a very early scan (suspected miscarriage) showed two sacs and my HCG levels were very high. A couple of weeks later there was just one embryo developing normally, and the other sac had already vanished. I do sometimes wonder what might have been, esp as I haven’t been able to have any more children.

I’m sorry you’ve had this news. It’s OK to feel weird about it even though you have one viable one

Not exactly the same, but I had IVF and had 2 embryos put in. On the early scan, there was only 1 HB. I knew the chances of 2 implanting was low, but I did feel sad that the 2nd embryo hadn't progressed and had died inside me- even if incredibly early on. Sending hugs your way

I am left handed and once read a theory that left handed people are sometimes the remaining twin . I don’t know if it’s true, or just an old wives tale,but I like to think I had a little right handed twinny , if only for a short time.

I had multiple MCs so was scanned at 6 weeks when they told me I was expecting twins. One of the twins was reabsorbed by 12 weeks. TBH, I was relieved even though I have never told anyone in RL about this feeling, I gave birth to a beautiful healthy child.